In less than two weeks, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. Perhaps your church is having a Thanksgiving meal or you're still looking for a different slant for your pre-Thanksgiving worship service. So here's "a little inspiration" to help you along that pathway...
This idea works best if the congregation is sitting at tables. As the congregation enters, give them the opportunity to take a stone or place enough stones at each table for the number of chairs.
Opening Hymn: We Gather Together to Ask the Lord's Blessing
Message: Raising Our Ebenezer, Our "Stone of Help" to the Lord, based on 1 Samuel 7:12
- History of Thanksgiving
- Symbols -- Three Stones
- Prayer
- Word of God
- Testimony
- Conclusion: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Time of Prayer and Contemplation: Invite congregation to use this time to pray and think about the three words from the sermon. Ask them to think about specific areas in their lives where they have experienced the grace, love, and providence of God during the past year. Using markers that have been placed at their tables, ask the congregation to write one word on the stone they were given at the beginning of the service. Start playing "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" in the background and instruct the congregation to come forward as the hymn is sung and place their stone and add it to the other stones as "we build our Ebenezer" and thank God for the blessings that we have received during the past year.
If you are doing this before your Thanksgiving meal, include a prayer to bless the meal and sing the "Doxology."
Visuals: Large river rock or beach pebbles and flagstone wall blocks can be purchased at any home improvement store. Purchase enough to start the foundation of an Ebenezer as described in 1 Samuel 7. Use a small table or altar table to place your Ebenezer. Include a cross and candles. Purchase enough river rock or beach pebbles so that each person in the congregation can have a rock. Three candles to symbolize the three words used in the sermon can be made by stacking & gluing graduated large beach pebbles on top of each other. In the top pebble, use a masonry drill to drill a hole that will hold a tea candle or a small glass candle (make sure you glue the glass candle into the hole). You may also have to sand the bottom of the stack of stones or mount it onto a flat brick to make it stable. Use your imagination or search the internet for additional ideas.
I hope these thought have given you "a little inspiration." Happy Thanksgiving!
